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New This Year!

Band Building and more!

Category: Newsletter Archive

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New! - Bach and Before for Band, Book 2 - David Newell (more advanced level than book 1)

Here is the long-awaited continuation of David Newell’s popular, flexibly-scored series of four-part chorales. By starting in unison and adding parts in any combination of instruments, you can optimize your warm-up time and refine students’ tone production, balance, blend, intonation, and musical understanding. Written at a more advanced level than Book One. The 24 chorales are rhythmically more complex, with multiple syncopations within and across barlines. Suspensions are plentiful. Many of the harmonizations are rich in chromaticism, offering ample opportunities to tune a variety of different chords. A wider variety of keys are used in book 2, compared to book 1, including major and minor keys. These versatile chorale and warm-up books can help in improving intonation and playing expressively, two keys important to a superior performance. Part books - $8.95, Conductor - $32.00. Watch our upcoming June Sale for special pricing.

New! - Adventures in Band Building - How To Turn "Less Than It Could Be Into More Than It Should Be" - Thomas MccAuley

Learn the ins and outs of leading a band to musical excellence from a veteran with more than twenty-five years of practical, real-world experience. Author Thomas McCauley writes in an engaging, conversational style that feels as if you are chatting over coffee, learning about insights, mistakes, revelations, and triumphs, a good read for any band director. It also makes a really great gift to a student teacher. Some of you may know or recognize Tom from his adjudicating at the recent Alberta International Band Festival in Edmonton March 2016. In stock. $28.95

Review - New this year! - It is Well - arr. by Robert W. Smith - grade 1.5 band

“It is Well” is derived from the popular hymn by Horatio Spattford and Philip Bliss. Written for beginning band, it incorporates a familiar tune with a varying orchestration that highlights specific instrumental groups within the ensemble. A full, yet controlled introduction leads to an initial statement of the melody carried by the clarinets in cantabile style. The piece builds to its second phrase with a full woodwind choir, puncuated by light percussion that swells and ebbs to the conclusion of the first verse. At Measure 22, the brass section iterates the hymn’s familiar chorus that is later augmented by the full band. After a restatement of the introductory material, the melody is presented this time by the brass in diminution. Following this is the hymn chorus in a full, majestic presentation leading to a grandios and inspiring conclusion. An excellent choice in the style of Hymnsong of Philip Bliss - Holsinger, at an easier level. A recording is on our page. In stock. $67

This new work in the Boosey and Hawkes Windependence Series (Craig Kirchoff Series Advisor) is a gorgeous addition to the lyrical concert band repertoire at grade 4. Based on the Norwegian composers choral work of the same name (Serenity - O Magnum Mysterium) the piece celebrates the mystery of life and its hopefulness and wonder. This version for band arranged by the composer and Dr. Eric Wilson maintains the beauty of the original although absent of text. Starting delicately and full of light, moving from minor to major, and building in depth and orchestration the piece brings a bold feeling of triumph, then diminishes to a feeling of peace, and to its namesake title. Beautiful! A work of the heart, like soul food. If one thought Ola Gjeilo was similar in ways to a younger Eric Whitacre, that might not be far off. A recording is on our page. In stock. $119.00

New this year, a world within itself, this delightful choral piece from Calgary musician Kathryn Parrotta immediately sets the mood with its simple, yet effective piano introduction. Followed by the voices in unison, it invokes the theme of the piece in a play between the piano and singers’ line that unhurriedly breaks into simple harmony. The climax in the middle of the song offers a different piano/vocal relationship with a more aggressive accompaniment part before settling back to the recapitulation in its earlier style. Storytelling is an important part of this experience and it is done well with craft and care. Overall, this work is an enchanting and worthwhile endeavor for your choir that will complement any choral concert. Kathryn workshopped her title at our choral reading session/party. A recording is on our page. In stock. $2.50 each